Author: staff

A spokesperson for the joint administrators at Interpath confirmed: “As the exit of customers left the company facing insolvency, the U.K. business was unable to continue to trade while the statutory notice periods be run.” Dozens of former U.K. staff are now planning to apply for a protective award, the same two former staff members told POLITICO. When a claim is successful against an insolvent firm, employees are able to receive a maximum of £5,752 each from the Insolvency Service. However, Interpath representatives warned in the Feb. 20 meeting that this process could take up to nine months, the same…

The prime example is the northern city of Lille, where the France Unbowed candidate was by one projection in a tie with the incumbent center-left mayor. France Unbowed is also on track to come in first in Roubaix, a populous, working-class city on Lille’s outskirts. The party’s prospects in this contest were very much in question after a controversy surrounding the death of a far-right activist last month. But France Unbowed’s strategy of focusing on young voters and working-class urban populations, often of immigrant descent, is delivering despite repeated controversies, particularly accusations of antisemitism against Mélenchon. “This election confirms that there is…

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó took the stage to claim that Brussels, Kyiv and Berlin “want to bring Europe to war” and “want the money of Europeans to be given to the Ukrainians.” Near Kossuth Square, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Boulevard was at a standstill with dozens of buses still disgorging supporters from the countryside, who had been brought in to offset Budapest’s predominantly opposition voters. High school student Mikolt, 16, and her stay-at-home mother Daniela, 42, were arriving from the village of Eger in the northeast of the country. They said they supported Orbán because he is keeping Hungary out of the war…

The People’s Party, which governs in Castilla y León, is projected to remain the largest party in the region with between 30 and 32 lawmakers. The conservatives will fall short of securing a governing majority, however, and are expected to attempt to form a coalition with the far-right Vox. For the first time, the ultranationalist group is projected to have secured over 20 percent of the vote and looks set to jump from 13 lawmakers to controlling between 17 and 19 seats in the parliament. Castilla y León’s regional president, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, in 2022 became the first PP leader…

PARIS — It’s election day in France, where voters across the country’s 35,000-plus communes will choose new mayors and city councilors for the first time in six years. The contests, many of which will require a runoff vote next Sunday, are expected to be an important indicator of voter sentiment heading into next year’s high-stakes presidential election — though plenty of races will be driven by local issues and personalities. Read on for the latest information in the races and the ensuing political horse-trading expected to take place once results are in. For a more in-depth primer, check out our…

The warning comes after Nawrocki vetoed legislation on Thursday that would have allowed Poland to access up to €43.7 billion in low-interest EU defense loans. Tusk’s government lacks the parliamentary majority needed to override the veto, deepening uncertainty over how Poland will finance planned military spending that is set to reach nearly 5 percent of gross domestic product this year. Tusk has warned that Nawrocki’s veto could weaken Poland’s position inside the EU. On Friday, former PiS Europe Minister Konrad Szymański wrote in a newspaper commentary that Poland’s nationalist right was drifting onto a “road toward Polexit,” drawing parallels with…

Published on 15/03/2026 – 18:00 GMT+1 Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared that Hungary’s upcoming parliamentary elections represent a choice between peace and war, casting his government as the guarantor of stability. Orbán made the remarks at a rally in central Budapest marking Hungary’s national day, which commemorates the country’s 1848 revolution against Habsburg rule. Hungary goes to the polls on the 12th of April in a vote widely regarded as the most serious challenge to Orbán’s grip on power since he took office in 2010. Péter Magyar, leader of the opposition Tisza Party, is currently ahead of Orbán’s Fidesz…

Budapest has accused Kyiv of deliberately blocking progress on repairing the infrastructure in order to engineer an energy crisis in the Hungary. In response, Hungarian Prime Viktor Orbán has been blocking the release of a €90 billion tranche of EU funding for Ukraine needed to keep the war-torn country financially afloat. On Thursday, the European Commission proposed sending a fact-finding mission to inspect the damage to the Druzhba pipeline in an attempt to resolve the dispute. “If we have decided to restore Russian oil supplies, then I want them to know that I am against it. … But if I…

Published on 15/03/2026 – 14:14 GMT+1•Updated 14:45 Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has called on Europe to reach a deal with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, in an interview published in the Belgian newspaper L’Echo. De Wever argued that a negotiated settlement is also necessary to restore access to cheap energy. The European Union remains divided on the issue. French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán have called for direct talks with Moscow, while Poland and the three Baltic states are firmly opposed. “In private, European leaders agree with…

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump speculated that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be helping Iran “a bit.” “I guess, and he probably thinks we’re helping Ukraine, right?” said Trump, in reference to aid to Kyiv to defend against Moscow’s all-out invasion. Iran and Russia have strengthened ties over the past decade in response to U.S. opposition. Iran has been supplying Russia with its domestically designed Shahed drones, which Moscow uses to wage its war in Ukraine, going so far as to set up factories in Russia. The two countries also threw their support behind the now-defunct regime of Bashar…